Overseas Property: Our French home is a bateau

Want to move to France but not sure where? A boat could be the answer, suggests Caroline Donald

Champagne, Burgundy, Alsace, Beaune . . . all are on the itinerary for Don Galles and Emma Blackburn over the coming year. That the regions are synonymous with delicious wines and food is no coincidence, as the couple are as keen on getting to know the local produce as they are on exploring their surroundings. And, after a blowout dinner, all they have to do is stagger home — to the MB (motor barge) Libertijn, a 130-tonne, 85ft-long motorised Dutch barge.

Galles, 40, who is American, and Blackburn, 41, who is British, have done what many stressed-out working people only dream of at their desk: they have jumped ship on corporate life. And, instead of having to decide where to buy a base for their early retirement — Burgundy v Provence, Normandy v the Dordogne — they have kept their options open by being able to move where the combination of available waterways and their whims